The star-system was pronounced dead by almost everyone, but as of the moment of writing everyone is talking about Liza Minnelli in Cabaret and she made the covers of Time and Newsweek simultaneously. Contrast the …

Some Like It Hot – Billy Wilder

While Joe carries on his Junior identity, Jerry as Daphne is also undergoing an identity crises. The absurdity of the tangled identities comes into focus when Daphne, after a night of dancing the tango with Osgood, decides to marry him. “It’s my only chance to marry a millionaire,” insists Jerry, ex­plaining that “security” is what he is seeking; and improbably, he winds up becoming engaged to Fielding.

The romances, however, are all cut short when the mob makes its ap­pearance at the hotel. Both Joe and Jerry think their numbers are up, but in typical Wilder fashion, the gangsters themselves come to an untimely and comical end with Spats being machine-gunned through the vehicle of a six­foot-tall birthday cake out of which pops the assassin. The remainder of.the mob then kill one another off.

Joe is now ready to reveal the truth about “Junior” to the unsuspecting Sugar, who loves both his personalities, Josephine as well as Junior. Jerry, in the meantime, sadly realizes that he must break the news of his identity to Osgood, who is looking forward to marriage. In the film’s classic closing scene, Jerry, who nciw wants to discourage Osgood’s affection, rips off his wig, revealing his true identity. Unruffled by it all and with his love apparently still intact, Osgood merely replies, “Well, nobody’s perfect.”

Visually and verbally, Some Like It Hot is a frantic, nonstop barrage of one-liners and comic invention, Tbny Curtis as Joe/Josephine/”Junior” and Jack Lemmon as Jerry/Daphne deliver their lines with expert timing; and Lemmon garnered an Oscar nomination for his work. Marilyn Monroe is the wistful Sugar, the ukelele-strumming singer who joins the all-girl group be­cause when she works for male groups, she always falls for the saxophone player. This was Monroe’s second film with Wilder (the first was The Seven Year Itch, filmed in 1955), and although he managed to elicit a fine comic performance from her, as well as several highly entertaining musical numbers (including “Running Wild,” and “I Wanna Be Loved by You”), the battles the two had on the set have become part of Hollywood lore. One sequence in Some Like It Hot that involved Monroe required a legendary fifty-nine takes.

In its final form, Some Like It Hot was a box-office bonanza, grossing more than twenty million dollars. With its fast and furious premise, as well as its constant humor, Some Like It Hot was the funniest film of 1959., Its humor runs the gamut from broad slapstick to sly sexual innuendo. With Lemmon and Curtis delightfully appearing in women’s clothes, the film suggests trans­vestite jokes but never plays on them seriously. Curtis, a frequently under­rated actor, delivers an especially good Cary Grant take-off; and the supporting players, including Joe E. Brown as Osgood, are slickly in control all around.

Some Like It Hot was Wilder’s fifteenth film, following dramatic successes such as. Double Indemnity (1944) and Sunset Boulevard (1950), as well as comedies such as Stalag 17 (1953) and the more fanciful Sabrina (1954). It ranks as Wilder’s funniest film, and paired him for the first time with Lemmon; the two would go on to collaborate in films such as The Apartment (1960), The Fortune Cookie (1966), Avanti (1972), and The Front Page (1974).

With the exception of Lemmon’s Best Actor nomination, Some Like It Hot did not get any major award nominations, although Orry-Kelly’s costumes did take an award. The film nevertheless remains a classic comedy whose genuinely affectionate nostalgia merges with an irreverent story line that tampers with social taboos and sensibilities. With their portrayals of Joel Josephine and Jerry/Daphne, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon made their marks as a great and decidedly unsung cinema team.

Are there really any multi-talented artists out there? Can anyone really kill it on Broadway one day, and then rock out at on the Whiskey the next…good question we thought.
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